


Promises

by Infy



Category: Samurai Warriors
Genre: F/M, tbh i'm just making sure i'm caught up with posting all my drabbles LMAO
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-07
Updated: 2015-03-07
Packaged: 2018-03-16 19:17:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,801
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3499850
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Infy/pseuds/Infy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>She turned quickly to see his face, not that she was hoping it would be there. Ha… of course not. She had to get used to not turning around and seeing him standing there. After all, they were to leave tomorrow. As much as she secretly wished that they didn’t have to part ways, it was Lord Hideyoshi’s decision. It was as inevitable as the sunset.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Promises

“Ginchiyo.”

She turned quickly to see his face, not that she was hoping it would be there. Ha… of course not. She had to get used to not turning around and seeing him standing there. After all, they were to leave tomorrow. As much as she secretly wished that they didn’t have to part ways, it was Lord Hideyoshi’s decision. It was as inevitable as the sunset. She turned back around, facing her open saddlebags as she loaded them with supplies. “What is it?” she managed to push past the lump in her throat, attempting to keep her voice as even as possible.

“Are you…” Muneshige began, each word in his calm, lilting voice cutting into her like a blade. She clenched her fists at his next words, hoping he wouldn’t notice. “Are you sad?”

She bit her tongue. “Don’t be ridiculous. What would give you that idea?”

She felt his hand on her shoulder. His gentle touch… yet another thing she had the sinking feeling she would never feel again. She shrugged his hand off of her before more memories flooded in. “You seem—”

“Whatever it is, no I don’t,” she spat, cutting him off. “Leave me alone.”

A long pause. Muneshige furrowed his brow, and Ginchiyo felt his gaze burning on the back of her neck.

_Let him in. You owe it to him. Tell him how you feel. You’ll end up making yourself sick. Ginchiyo, just let him in._

_He’s your husband and you love him._

Muneshige once again broke the silence with a sigh. “You seem to be ready to leave—”

“Lord Hideyoshi has sent me to quell a rebellion near Chugoku,” she interrupted him again, still refusing to look him in the eye. “I’m assuming you’re aiding in the siege of Odawara.”

Muneshige grabbed her shoulder again, his grip firmer this time. “That’s not the point—”

“That’s the only point.”

Narrowing his eyes, Muneshige continued, almost relentlessly. “Really, you seem as though you’re—”

She finally managed to meet his eyes this time as she turned around, snarling with all the vitriol she could muster up in her voice. “Shut up.”

There was a momentary pause as Muneshige inhaled deeply, his cool composure vanishing beneath narrowed eyes and a scowl. His hands gripped both her shoulders and held her firmly. As hard as it was, she forced herself to meet his eyes, never one to back down from a challenge. His voice was harsh, a sharp whisper as he leaned further in, keeping her from moving—their eyes never broke contact. “I will _not_ ,” he said, his grip on her shoulders tightening, but never to the point where she felt pain. “You are my wife, for better or for worse, and I am worried about you.”

Ginchiyo narrowed her eyes into a vicious scowl. “I said leave me be, damn it…!”

His voice raised uncharacteristically loud now. “ _I will not!_ ” He repeated, and her eyes widened. Ginchiyo had never seen him this angry, but in his eyes she still saw a glint of that gentle nature she remembered from him behind all the hurt and the rage; she couldn’t pay attention to it now. His anger captured all her attention, and the only thing she knew how to do was retaliate.

She grabbed his  _jinbaori_  and pushed him back, yelling back just as loudly, telling him to go away, god, please, just leave her alone—he just took a step forward again and seized her by the shoulders.

“Damn it, Ginchiyo! Stop it! Stop this act! Stop being so damn stubborn! Just stop!” Muneshige’s voice raised again, still obviously hurt, enough to capture her attention completely. “Why can’t you open up to anyone?! Not even your husband?! What’s wrong with you?!”

Dead silence hung in the air. Ginchiyo’s eyes widened at his words.

_What’s wrong with you?_

It was a question she asked herself often. Outwardly, she refused to be anything but stoic, anything but strong, a mask for her fear of failure. No matter how hard she tried tearing down her walls, she’d automatically build them back up again. It was exhausting enough as it is. So how dare he ask what’s wrong with her? Neither of them have control of it—although she wished more than anything that she did. Her brow twitched as she took a step back.

_What’s wrong with you?_

Her facade had failed. No, everything was  _not_  under control. There was something wrong. There was  _everything_  wrong. Her entire body tensed, shivered—she felt weak, defenseless, and she hugged her shoulders, the cold fire in her husband’s eyes forcing hers away. They began to well up, and she finally spoke, her voice cracking in a dull whisper despite her attempts to raise it. “Stop… stop yelling at me…! I don’t want to do this anymore…!” she breathed, attempting with all her might to force back the tears.  _“_ There’s nothing wrong with me…!”

Muneshige took a step beside her as she tried so desperately not to cry, taking her in an embrace. “I don’t want to leave you.” He murmured, holding her tighter to him. “You’ll be reckless.”

Her arms tensed at her sides; the only thing giving in to his body was her head as she rolled it to rest in his shoulder. “And you…?” She whispered harshly, her voice a poisonous hiss. “With no regard for anybody but yourself—”

“I’ve already made my promises, to myself and to you. I will make them again.” He pulled away from her, once again meeting her eyes. His rage seemed to have left him as quickly as it came. “I will not die. I swear to you that.” He held her face tenderly in his palm, and her fingers ghosted along the back of his hand, unsure where to land. “I just… need to hear you say it. I don’t need you to say you’ll miss me. I don’t even need you to say you’d want to see me again. What I need is to hear you swear to stay alive.”

“I can’t do that.”

“Please. I need to hear you say it.”

“Muneshige, you don’t understand. I can’t.” She violently shook her head, tearing herself away from him.

Muneshige furrowed his brow. “This isn’t the time to be stubborn—”

“Muneshige, please, just stop it, I’m begging you…”

His assault continued, his hands once again gripping her shoulders, harder this time. “Ginchiyo, I need you to promise me—!”

His words were interrupted by the sound of a slap ringing around the room. Muneshige backed up for a moment, clutching his cheek in his hand, eyes wide and nothing but a composed, even breath coming from his mouth. Silence pervaded between the walls, both of them lost in the moment of tension, the air so thick around them that Ginchiyo could barely breathe. She inhaled shallowly before lowering her shaking hand. “I can’t. I can’t promise you that. I can’t promise you that I won’t die,” she balled her hands into fists, weakly raising her shoulders. “You’re a liar too, Muneshige!” She spat, taking a step forward and finally meeting his eyes with her own. “You can’t tell me that either, because you don’t know! You have no idea!” She took another step forward, pushing him back forcefully. “How the hell can you just stand there and lie to my face, telling me that you won’t die?!”

Muneshige simply stood there, his hands at his sides, taking her words. He attempted to calm her down, meeting her furious glare with a sympathetic gaze of his own. “I can try—”

“You can try! You can  _try!”_ Ginchiyo shot back, seizing him by the collar of his  _jinbaori_. “And if you do die, what then?! What if I die?! You can’t change it! So what will you do?! You won’t be able to apologize to me for breaking your promise! And I would never be able to forgive you! If you died…” she trailed off.  _I_ _f you died, I would never be able to forgive myself. If you died, I would never be able to lead the clan like I did before. I would be devastated._

_If you died, so would I._

So many words wanted to come out, but nothing did. The only thing she could muster was to collapse into his chest and attempt to even out her breathing. Her hands clutched his jinbaori, pulling him closer to her. No words, only closed eyes blocking any tears from falling, only breathing into him and forcing herself to calm down.

She felt his arms pull her closer, into a tight embrace.

There was a long pause, and Muneshige only tightened his hold on her. Finally he broke the silence, after precious seconds passed. “We’ve trained our whole lives for this, you know.”

Ginchiyo glanced to the side, away from Muneshige’s eyes.

“You should know better than anyone the worth and strength of a Tachibana.” He leaned down, touching his forehead to hers. “Listen to me. We will survive. The both of us. And when we meet again, the first thing I will do is this.”

She met his gaze for a brief moment, and he softly kissed her lips.

Ginchiyo furrowed her brow, and Muneshige continued. “All that I ask, my dear, is that you stay safe. That you promise me you won’t be reckless.”

Another long pause pervaded around the room—the air was thick, but there was a calmness to the silence, a moment of quiet respite; Ginchiyo refrained from speaking for fear that the moment would somehow rupture. She took a breath, gathering the words in her head.

“I am offering you a fair warning.” Ginchiyo finally breathed. “If there is no option open to me but to either be captured or die a warrior’s death, I will choose death.”

“Ginchiyo…”

“But…” she paused a moment, grabbing her ritual dagger from her side. She threw it to the side, and it fell with a clatter in the corner of the room. “If I am to die… I will die fighting for the future with my father’s sword in my hand.” She parted from him, her hands still touching his arms. “I am a Tachibana. Now, more than ever, when peace is so close…” Ginchiyo trailed off for a moment, gripping his sleeves with balled fists. “Defeat is  _not_  an option.”

Muneshige smiled, pulling her into another embrace, kissing her again. She fell into this one, wrapping her arms around him and pulling him closer.

As he made his way out of the room, Ginchiyo called after him. “Oi, Muneshige.”

He craned his neck to look at her. “Yes…?”

“It goes for you as well. That is an order.”

Muneshige couldn’t help but smile as he bowed to her. “Understood, my lady.”


End file.
